The United States (US) has revealed why, after 14 years, it decided to vacate a key airbase in Somalia, which it had occupied until a few weeks ago.
- The US vacated Baledogle Military Airfield in Somalia after 14 years due to the deteriorating runway, which became too costly to repair.
- US Army Lt. Gen. John Brennan stated the departure was an economic decision, not a sign of reduced US support for Somalia.
- Despite tensions over Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, US-Somalia collaboration, especially in counter-terrorism against Al-Shabaab, remains strong.
- The airfield, crucial for intelligence gathering and training Somali soldiers, is now controlled by Ugandan and Somali troops.
The reason for the US’s departure from the Baledogle Military Airfield in Somalia, which it has held since 2012, is the dilapidated state of the facility’s runway, according to a top U.S. Africa Command general.
Army Lt. Gen. John Brennan, AFRICOM’s deputy commander, on Tuesday, noted that the US’s exit from the Somalian airfield resulted from the cost of fixing the runway.
“The relocation from Baledogle was 100% an economic decision,” Brennan said during a briefing with reporters.
“The surface of the airfield was declining to the point where it was becoming dangerous to land aircraft there,” he added.
Rather than fix the runway, which was estimated to cost tens of millions, the command at the airfield decided to relocate the U.S. personnel there to Mogadishu.
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The Lt. General noted that the departure of US troops from the airbase, as previously reported did not signal a decline of US support for Somalia, as seen on Stars and Stripes.
According to him, the US’s and Somalia relationship has been growing stronger in recent months.
The budding relationship between the two countries has recently been evidenced by a debacle between global superpowers such as Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, and Israel concerning the recognition of Somaliland.
Complex relationship between Israel, Somalia, Somaliland and the US
The cooperation between the US, which regularly partners with Somalia to conduct joint counter-terrorism airstrikes against Al-Shabaab insurgents, has taken no hit despite the actions of America’s key ally, Israel, in recognizing Somaliland as a sovereign state.
Somaliland and Somalia have been at odds with each other, considering that Somaliland is a breakaway state of Somalia.
Several powerful nations have been reluctant to recognize Somaliland as a sovereign nation, except for a few, including Israel, which recently advanced plans to establish an embassy in the breakaway country, despite opposition from China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and, of course, Somalia.
On November 1, 2026, Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that its first ambassador to Somaliland, Michael Lotem, had presented his credentials to the President of Somaliland, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, in Hargeisa, the territory’s capital, where officials also laid the cornerstone for the planned embassy.
The move follows Israel’s recognition of Somaliland on December 26, 2025, making it the first United Nations member state to recognise the territory since it declared independence from Somalia in 1991.
Plans for the embassy have been underway for months, with Israel appointing Lotem, its former ambassador to Kenya, as its first envoy to Somaliland in April 2026.
It goes without saying that Somalia has rejected this development, despite the fact that it shares a relationship with the US, a key ally of Israel.
Even with the growing tension between Israel and Somalia, the East African country’s counter-terrorism collaboration with Washington remains active, as demonstrated when the U.S. military teamed up with the Federal Government of Somalia to execute targeted precision airstrikes against Al-Shabaab fighters near Bulo Bashiir.
US exit of Baledogie Somali airbase
Earlier this month, it was reported that military personnel from the United States (US) have withdrawn from an air base in Somalia, according to a few sources familiar with the development.
The sources revealed that all U.S. personnel left the Baledogle Military Airfield, an airfield that has been central to intelligence gathering in an overarching mission to train Somalian soldiers in countering insurgent groups.
Purportedly, the airfield is now under the control of Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and Somali National Army (SNA) troops, one of the sources said.
“In the interest of maintaining operational security, we do not discuss details of ongoing operations,” an AFRICOM spokesman said, adding that the command “repositions its forces to optimize for ongoing counterterror operations.”
The United States has used Baledogle Military Airfield since 2012 to train Somalia’s elite Danab commando forces and support intelligence operations, according to sources within the Somali military.
